These are Iran’s key islands in the Gulf

Iran's islands are in the spotlight.

While most of its roughly 400 islands are small and uninhabited, several of them are large and strategically important.

The most significant of these islands lie in the Gulf, across from Iran's neighbours in the Arabian peninsula, and in the Strait of Hormuz. 

The latter waterway, which connects the Persian/Arabian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and onwards to the Indian Ocean, is a vital chokepoint through which a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas passes.

In response to the US-Israeli war, Iran has effectively closed the strait - and its islands have been key to such asymmetric warfare tactics. 

But Iran's islands are also crucial for its energy and tourism industries, and contain rich and layered histories, much like the rest of the country. 

Three of them are disputed and claimed by the UAE; another is known for its community of fisherwomen; and one is the site where a former FBI agent disappeared two decades ago.

Middle East Eye takes a closer look at nine Iranian islands. 

Kharg

Kharg Island is the beating heart of Iran’s oil infrastructure. 

Located in the Gulf's north, around 30km from the mainland, the island handles 90 percent of Iran’s crude exports. 

Crude from oilfields across Iran is stored and loaded onto tankers from the island, for shipment to international markets.

Kharg can store up to 30 million barrels of crude. It reportedly held around 18 million barrels as of last month. 

A vast network of pipelines link major oilfields to Kharg’s storage facilities and loading jetties. 

It is often referred to as the “Forbidden Island”, due to restricted access imposed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Only those with official security clearance are allowed to enter.

Most of the island’s 8,000 inhabitants are connected to the oil industry. 

The island has a number of archaeological sites, including the ruins of a Christian monastery, Sassanid-era tombs and ancient Achaemenid inscriptions dating back more than 2,300 years. 

During the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, Iraq’s air force frequently bombed the island. 

In recent weeks, the US has struck what it said were 90 military targets on the island, and Trump threatened to seize it. 

Qeshm 

Qeshm - spanning more than 1,400 sq km - is the largest island in the Gulf. 

It is part of Iran's Hormozgan province, lying on the Strait of Hormuz near the port city of Bandar Abbas on the mainland. 

Qeshm is home to around 150,000 people, the majority of whom are Sunni and speak the Bandari dialect. 

The island has held naval strategic importance for a number of rulers and empires, with both Portuguese and British forces having built bases there. 

Historical landmarks, as well as the island’s ecological diversity, have made it a key tourist destination and a site on Unesco’s tentative list under consideration for world heritage status. 

Since the Islamic Revolution, Qeshm has become a free trade industrial zone with a different tax and regulatory framework to the rest of the country. 

It has also been built up as a key naval hub for Iran's asymmetric maritime warfare capabilities.

The IRGC is thought to have constructed a secretive underground “missile city” on the island, home to submarines, attack boats and coastal batteries. 

Details of the subterranean network are classified. 

On 7 March, Iran accused the US of striking a desalination plant on Qeshm. Both the US and Israel denied carrying out the attack. 

Hormuz 

Hormuz island, like the strait it lies in, gets its name from the kingdom of Hormuz, which was a major maritime power in the Gulf, administering parts of modern day Iran, Oman and Bahrain between the 11th and 17th centuries. 

The rulers made the island of Hormuz their capital, serving as a trading hub between the Gulf and the Indian Ocean. 

Hormuz was later conquered by the Portuguese empire, before coming under joint Persian and British control. 

The island is popular due to its geological features. It is often referred to as the “rainbow island”, owing to strikingly coloured natural formations including ochre-stained streams, red-hued beaches and pink, golden and yellow mountains. 

Larak 

Larak island is key to Iran’s assertion of control over the Strait of Hormuz. 

It is strategically located to the east of Qeshm and south of Hormuz island. 

Tehran has reportedly fortified Larak with a network of bunkers and attack craft, allowing it to monitor the Strait of Hormuz and threaten cargo ships. 

In recent days, Larak has been used to create a de-facto “tollbooth” in the strait. 

Analysts have recorded that, rather than passing through the large part of the waterway between Larak and the Musandam peninsula in Oman, ships are travelling north of Larak, closer to the Iranian coastline. 

That is because Iran has established what it describes as a “safe corridor”, through which it can verify ships. 

According to Lloyd’s List, one vessel reportedly paid $2m to pass through the corridor. It’s not clear if all vessels are being charged. 

Abu Musa 

Abu Musa is the largest of three islands administered by Iran that are claimed by the UAE. 

Covering five square kilometres, and home to around 2,000 residents, Abu Musa is the furthest of Hormozgan's 14 islands from the mainland. 

The dispute over the island's sovereignty was first documented during the turn of 20th century.

When the Trucial States, the predecessor to the UAE, came under British protection in the late 19th century, the emirate of Sharjah administered Abu Musa. 

Iran contested this, and in 1904 briefly planted a flag on the island to claim sovereignty, before withdrawing under British pressure.

It remained under Sharjah’s administration for several decades. 

When Britain withdrew from the protectorate in 1971, it brokered a complex deal over Abu Musa which would see the island jointly controlled by Sharjah and Iran.

But on 30 November 1971, two days before the UAE declared independence, Iran took control of the island.  

A week later, the Emirates took the issue to the UN Security Council, and for the five decades since has sought a diplomatic resolution over Abu Musa and the Lesser and Greater Tunb islands. 

Iran maintains that its ownership of the three islands long pre-dates Sharjah’s claim, arguing that it was part of the Persian empire as early as the 6th century BCE. 

Tehran has cited a 19th-century British map to assert its ownership claims. 

Today, Iran uses Abu Musa - the only one of the three disputed islands with inhabitants - as a first line of defence in the Strait of Hormuz. 

The Pentagon is reportedly considering seizing Abu Musa as an option for a “final blow” during the war. 

Greater and Lesser Tunbs 

The Greater and Lesser Tunbs, two small islands near the Strait of Hormuz, are also claimed by the UAE. 

While Abu Musa is claimed by Sharjah, the Tunbs are claimed by the emirate of Ras al-Khaimah.  

Unlike Abu Musa, no agreement between Ras al-Khaimah and Iran was reached ahead of British withdrawal from the Tunbs. 

In November 1971, Iranian troops landed on Greater Tunb. 

The local police force, made up of six officers, opened fire on the 30-man Iranian force. A shootout took place, killing three Iranians and four Emiratis. 

Greater Tunb is four square kilometres, while Lesser Tunb is less than one square kilometre.

According to the CIA, the smaller island is overrun by venomous snakes. 

Iran is thought to have equipped both islands with missiles, drones and mine-laying capabilities. 

Hengam

Hengam lies just 2km away from the much larger Qeshm island.

It is 36 sq km, and home to a few hundred families living across three villages.

Like many of its surrounding islands, it was used as a military base by both the Portuguese and British empires. 

The remote island is famed for its historic community of veiled fisherwomen, who are the primary breadwinners for their families. 

A feature in the New Yorker described them as “the only fisherwomen in Iran - and probably in the eight other countries around the Gulf”. 

Kish 

Kish is the most widely visited Iranian island, attracting millions of tourists each year. 

It is known for its beaches, resort hotels and shopping centres. Like Qeshm island, it is one of Iran's economic free trade zones. 

Kish is the only part of Iran that foreigners can visit without requiring a visa.

It gained notoriety in March 2007 as the place where Robert Levinson, a former long-serving FBI agent, disappeared. 

The case remains unresolved, though the US government believes there is credible evidence to suggest Levinson had died in Iranian captivity by 2020. 

Meanwhile, despite the visa-free status, British singer Joss Stone was denied entry to Kish in July 2019. Iranian officials said she didn’t have the correct documentation.

Stone believes she was ejected because authorities thought she would flout a rule that bans women from performing solo concerts. 

On the first day of the war, footage showed smoke billowing from an Israeli-US strike on Kish.